Liber Vampyr

Table 4‐1: The Sanguine Aspirant
Level
Base Attack
Bonus Fort Ref Will Special
Maximum
Blood Points
1st +0 +0 +1 +1 Accelerated cruomancy, bonus feat, weakness 6
2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Bonus feat 9
3rd +2 +1 +2 +2 Bonus feat, vampire's sight, weakness 12
4th +3 +1 +2 +2 Bonus feat 15
5th +3 +2 +3 +3 Bonus feat, vampiric youth, weakness 18
6th +4 +2 +3 +3 Bonus feat 21
7th +5 +2 +4 +4 Bonus feat, vampiric vigor, weakness 24
8th +6 +3 +4 +4 Bonus feat 27
9th +6 +3 +5 +5 Blood control, bonus feat, weakness 30
10th +7 +3 +5 +5 Bonus feat, undead apotheosis 33
Playing a Sanguine Aspirant
As a sanguine aspirant you want one thing: to unlock
the powers of cruomancy without giving up your life to do so.
Perhaps you simply don’t trust in the benevolence of these
blood-drinking predators to give you their “embrace” without
attempting to enslave you, or simply devour you on the spot,
or perhaps you simply enjoy the benefits of remaining alive,
but whatever the case, you know that for you, the road to
mastery of the blood does not involve your death. Instead,
you turn to the dusty and aged tomes of times long forgotten
in search of the mythical ritual, known as the Sanguine Path.
Only the Path can safely give you the power you seek, without
having to give up your life to gain it.
This doesn’t mean that the path is an easy one,
however, and you had a pretty good idea when you started
down it that you would need to do some pretty dark things
in order to get where you wanted to go. Even so, you simply
chalk that up to “the price of true greatness” and carry on
in your search: after all, knowledge isn’t power if you’re too
cowardly to use it.
Combat
Most likely your overall combat style won’t change
much from becoming a sanguine aspirant, though sanguine
aspirants with experience in grappling will find a new and
exciting use for that skill. The benefits of vampirism are
such that characters of just about any role can benefit from
some time in the class, with the only real exception being
spellcasters, who will feel the loss of spellcasting progression
very sharply.
Resources
Sanguine aspirants do not gain any specific resources
upon entering the class. A sanguine aspirant can count on a
fellow sanguine aspirant to attempt to steal any secrets he has
uncovered about the Sanguine Path, and to gladly kill him in
order to get at them, but otherwise can expect little from his
peers. He will likely find academic institutions very helpful
for his studies, though if he is too open about the nature of
his research he may find his welcome brought to an abrupt
end.
Sanguine Aspirants in the World
I’m not entirely sure why they’re so reluctant to meet
the embrace of death. It seems like it would be so much easier
to gain power another way. Still, I suppose if the alternative
is seeking out the nearest vampire, begging for the “embrace,”
and then hoping that nothing bad happens, I can understand
why one might choose to pursue an ancient and forgotten
ritual, instead.
~Marosh the Black, Arch-lich of Gorgynia
Sanguine aspirants are, in essence, very specialized
scholars, and typically that is all the world sees them as:
eccentric, but ultimately well-meaning, researchers and
sages. Most people have little interest in ancient rituals of
any sort, nor the patience for cryptic clues locked away in
musty tomes. It is only those who take a keen interest in the
sanguine aspirant’s studies, information he is not overly eager
to share, that may begin to suspect a darker purpose to the
disciple’s quest for knowledge.
Organization
For the most part, sanguine aspirants operate
independently, jealously hiding their knowledge and secrets
from any who might want to walk the same path. Indeed, all
indications seem to be that the very ritual itself is designed
to weed out the weak by pitting disciples against each
other in their search for answers. Occasionally two or more
sanguine aspirants make temporary alliances, agreeing to
work together for mutual benefit, but these alliances typically
end in treachery and, more often than not, murder. For
this reason, the followers of the Sanguine Path are almost
universally suspicious of the so-called Brotherhood of
Sanguine Bonds, a recent organization which purports to be
a lodge or gathering hall for sanguine aspirants, including
shared access to the knowledge they have uncovered
regarding the steps of the path. Many suspect that the
brotherhood is an elaborate ploy to cheat sanguine aspirants
out of their precious secrets, but so far no one has been able
to uncover anything sinister about the organization.
NPC Reactions
Most NPCs respond to sanguine aspirants the same
way they would to any other eccentric researcher—at least at
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